It was a rather unexpected turn of events that led us to meet and hire Bill of KNT Electric to replace our knob and tube wiring.
Of course, as owners of a 1925 era house, we knew that knob and tube was becoming increasingly unpopular among insurers and real estate agents and that someday we would have to “bite the bullet” and get our walls and ceilings ripped open in the pursuit of these legacies of an older home. But thus far we had managed to distract ourselves with planning more exciting projects, ones that would give a new look to something we could see rather than something that was hidden behind our walls.
When, in the process of planning one of these projects - the installation of a new window - we learned we would have to pay almost $800 to temporarily sheathe our incoming Hydro wires, we decided to explore the possibility of permanently moving those Hydro wires and running them through a conduit. Our neighbours had done this relatively recently and the result looked solid and tidy.
We contacted our neighbour to ask how they had proceeded with getting their wires moved. In minutes we were hearing the story of their recent knob and tube adventure involving unanticipated insurance demands, tight timelines just before Christmas and daunting descriptions by friends and contractors of the mess, disruption and cost of knob and tube removal. But then, among the contractors they interviewed, they had found a great little company specializing in knob and tube removal, that promised - and proved to live up to that promise - to do the work considerably less invasively, in a shorter length of time than the competitors and still at a good price. That company was KNT Electric.
It was difficult to ignore such an enthusiastic endorsement of a company, especially by people who we knew carefully researched their candidate contractors and who did not shy away from being critical when criticism was warranted.
But our main interest was still the moving of the outdoor Hydro wires. We decided to ask KNT if they could do this job but thought it might also be a good opportunity to get some idea of what knob and tube removal could entail, in terms of work and cost, “for future reference.” Bill came over that same afternoon. After checking out the exterior Hydro wires, he toured, from an electrical point of view, the interior of our house. The next day, he emailed us a detailed estimate that included separate components for the outdoor work and the indoor work. He indicated that he had no problem doing just the outdoor work, if that was what we wanted.
We felt reassured by Bill’s description of how KNT would handle the knob and tube removal. They would try to minimize the number and size of holes, and we could choose, for extra charge, to have them patch up the holes at the end of the job. We liked Bill’s proposal to include some other improvements, for example the installation of GFIs near kitchen sinks and the provision of designated circuits for refrigerators. We appreciated the fact that his detailed estimate included an itemized list, in both text and spreadsheet formats, of the specific tasks to be done and their individual prices. The predicted length of the job - 6 days plus another 1 1/2 days for patching if we chose this - did not seem too onerous. And the quoted price for all that time and effort seemed reasonable.
Thus, our thoughts of “for future reference” became “let’s do it now”, and we hired KNT to do both the moving of the Hydro wires and the knob and tube removal. The work was scheduled to start in less than a month. There was little preparation required of us except putting fragile knickknacks out of harm’s way. Bill indicated that they would move things that had to be moved.
In the weeks before the start date, we made lists of questions and requests, such as preferred locations for new receptacles. Urgent questions we e-mailed to Bill; he always replied, usually within a day. The rest we saved for the first day of work, as per Bill’s advice.
On starting day, Bill and a crew of three young men showed up exactly on time. While the crew set up protective tarps and plastics and brought in tools, we reviewed our lists of questions and requests with Bill. And then the work began in earnest.
We were impressed. The fellows worked hard. Except for a lunch break, which was sometimes quite short, they seemed to take little time off. Every scheduled work day, they arrived at 10 am and left at 6 pm. They were pleasant and despite varying levels of facility in English, they cheerfully tried to answer any questions and deal with any concerns we had. They were flexible and creative in finding solutions to obstacles in their work. Before they left at the end of the day, they cleaned up. Tools were put tidily into corners in the basement. Bill came by most days, sometimes more than once, to check how things were going.
Of course, holes did begin to appear. Apparently we have some structural anomalies in our house, so the paths of wires aren’t as straightforward as they are in many houses. Considerable drilling was needed. Some fixtures proved to be finicky and needed some fixing. Bill’s predicted 6 days of electrical work stretched to 9 days.
We felt better, though, when the Hydro inspector dropped by for the rough-in inspection and not only expressed satisfaction with the work but also commented on how little damage had been done to walls and ceilings. We were also happy with how smoothly the relocation of the outdoor Hydro wires went, despite it being a cold, wet day. And we appreciated some of the unexpected additions KNT provided for us, such as covered lights in closets and a pot light in the entryway to a bedroom.
We agreed to have KNT patch up the holes. Although we knew we would have to have a plasterer come in to do a better fix, since we have patterned and stippled plaster ceilings, we did not wish to live with holes, even for a few weeks. As fixtures were reinstalled and patches done, our house began to look once again like home. Some of the patches have blended in amazingly well into our textured surfaces. We thus do not feel a huge urgency in getting the final plaster work and repainting done, though we realize these tasks will eventually be necessary.
Now that the work is finished, there is the satisfaction of knowing that our wiring is in accordance with current standards. Bill has provided us with a letter certifying that all knob and tube wiring in our house has been replaced. He has also provided us with a guide as to how our circuits are now mapped onto our electrical panel. This is very useful “basic information” to have about our house and important since our old electrical maps had now become obsolete.
And our outdoor Hydro wires look tidy and secure in their new location, well out of the way of any window installers!
We are now joining our next-door neighbours in enthusiastic recommendation of KNT Electric!
